


Of Golden Fields, Blue Rooms and Empty Cribs

by Maaarken



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Buckys mind is a mess, Flashbacks, M/M, Overprotective Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, but nothing will happen as long as he is underage, peter is underage, tony will make sure of it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 09:56:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16514126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maaarken/pseuds/Maaarken
Summary: In which Peter and Bucky are soulmates. Also in which Tony is an overprotecting dad (and rightfully so).Also in which Bucky killed has killed more than just Howard and Maria Stark.





	Of Golden Fields, Blue Rooms and Empty Cribs

**Author's Note:**

> Peter is more or less 16 in this, which is why I have tagged it as underage. However, there will be no underage stuff happening in here.  
> Also, in this world, soulmarks arrive at 18 (which is the age of consent), for plot reasons and because I don't like underage stuff.  
> So I repeat, the underage tag is for safety. There will be no sex happening here, not even a kiss.

Bucky had been living at Stark Tower for almost a year now. He was now fully rehabilitated, although old memories were still randomly reappearing. He remembered most of his childhood with Steve and that was enough for him. It had been a hard road to recovery, but he had already missed so much of Steve’s life. Learning he had missed his best friend’s marriage had been both deppressing and a source of motivation. He didn’t want to miss anything else.

Steve had woken up from the ice a few years ago. He’d met Tony Stark - Howard’s son - almost immediately. Steve had Tony’s name written on his arm, and Tony had Steve’s. It was love at first sight. Steve had met Tony’s son, Peter, and legally adopted him when he had married Tony. Clint had told Bucky it was Steve who had popped the question, which wasn’t really surprising. Steve had always been a romantic.

Bucky was really happy for him. It was like a dream for him to be living with Steve and his family - and his friends. Tony was nice. He had welcomed Bucky in his tower before Bucky even felt confident enough to sleep in the same building as them. He also liked to tinker on Bucky’s arm. They spent hours, almost every week, talking as Tony was looking at Bucky’s arm. Which was exactly what they were currently doing.

Bucky was sitting on a bench next to Tony’s. His arm was on the table, being dissected by the engineer. They’ve been here for hours already, and Tony was probably almost done.

“Hey, where is your name, by the way?” suddenly asked Tony.

Bucky froze and looked at his arm. Or, more exactly, where his arm would be if it hadn’t been replaced by a metallic one. There had been words written on his forearm, where most soulmarks are written. There had been three words, he remembered. What the names were? That he had no idea.

Tony saw the look he gave the arm.

“Aw, that sucks. You wanna ask Steve if he remembers?”

Bucky shakes his head. He has to remember by himself.

“It’s not like it matters,” he answers. “They’re probably dead by now. Or on the verge of death.”

Tony doesn’t seem convinced but lets it go. Instead, he just bends himself forward on the metallic arm, placing a new, small piece inside of it. As Tony works, Bucky tries to remember more on his mark. He tries to sort out his old memories, starting from the ones he knows the best.

He knows Steve and him spent hours dreaming of their soulmates, Steve more than Bucky. Yet he doesn’t remember any of their actual conversations. He can’t remember a single clue about his soulmate, not even their gender. As Tony said, it sucks.

Bucky suddenly feels a headache appearing. The usual feeling accompanying a memory follows. He feels numb and stops breathing for a second or two. He sees a plane, crashing. Then an explosion in a field as the sun sets. Everything is golden and warm and orange. Then files. Important files. In a mallet, but the mallet opens and Bucky can read a few words before he closes it again. Parker.

“You alright, buddy?”

Tony’s voice breaks his trance. Bucky opens his eyes, unaware of even closing them. He’s still in the lab. There’s no plane, no explosion and even less files - Tony despises the mere thought of using paper.

Tony’s hand is raised in the air, as if ready to pat him. But Tony knows better than to touch him during one his trances. Bucky hasn’t had an accident in months, but they never know what could make the Winter Soldier tick.

“You know not to force your memories. It’s not good for you.”  
“As if you ever do what’s good for you,” grumbles Bucky in answer.

Tony chuckles and concentrates on the arm. That’s all there is to say and they both know it. Tony is right - which is rare - and Bucky has to think about the meaning of the new memories.

It was probably the memory of a job. The plane looked too new to date of the war. He’ll have to do a small research. Linking the name to the plane crash shouldn’t be too hard.

The name written on the files, however, is familiar. Parker.

_Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker. Parker._

Another flashback.

Steve is sick, laying on the couch near the fireplace. It’s warm and Bucky is just wearing his undershirt and pants. Steve is sleeping, covered by an old, beige blanket. Bucky is reading a book - And Now Tomorrow - keeping guard over his feverish friend, when he looks at his arm. There are three words written in black on his arm, in a light, cursive script. A first name, a middle name and a last name. The letters are blurry. Bucky tries to concentrate on them, forcing his memory back.

Parker. The last word is Parker. The last name of his soulmate is Parker. He tries to concentrate harder on the two other names. He has to know. He wants to know. Even if his soulmate has been dead for years.

He is awoken from his trance by Tony’s voice.

“Hey, bud, I need to put your arm back on you. Wake up.”

Putting his arm back is never really long, but it’s not exactly comfortable. His shoulder still hurt at times, even though he lost his arm around 70 years ago.

Tony is almost done putting the metallic arm back into place when Bucky speaks up.

“My soulmate’s name is Parker,” he says.

Tony looks up from the arm, smiling.

“Parker, huh? But that name works for both sexes. Do they have a middle name that could be a clue for their gender? I’m pretty sure it’s a girl, though. Steve said you were a ladies’ man.”  
“Guessing never works,” answers Bucky. “I’d always thought Steve would get a girl, before his name appeared. I was sure it would be a lady as small as him, with blond hair and blue eyes. And with enough wit to sass out Steve. Yet now he’s taller than I am, and he’s married to a brown-haired man. With facial hair.”

Tony laughs at that.

“At least I wasn’t wrong about the sass and size,” jokes Bucky.  
“Careful, Robocop, or I’ll keep that arm for me,” warns Tony, although a large smile splits his face.  
“I’d like to see you try,” puffs out Bucky with a laugh.

They fall in a small, comfortable silence as Tony finishes to reattach the prosthetic arm.

“Parker is their surname, not their first name.”  
“Oh, that’s a common last name,” comments Tony.  
“It is indeed ranked as the 47th most common name in the US,” pipes in JARVIS.

Discouragement creeps in. He has to focus more, to understand the letters that were once written on his skin. He closes his eyes and tries to focus.

“The first letter of the first name is a P. I can’t see the rest,” he says, eyes still closed. “The middle name starts with a… B. I think there are eight letters.

“Benedict?” proposes JARVIS. “Brittany? Bertrand? Beatrice? Beverley?”

Bucky shakes his head, still focusing on the letters.

“It seems to end with a n. Or maybe a m? No it’s a n. With an i. It’s in.”  
“Benjamin?” proposes Tony.  
“Maybe. I can see the Ben now, and the in. But the middle is too blurry, my memory is not precise enough.”

Bucky can feel Tony tensing near him, but he ignores it. He knows his soulmate’s name. It’s an exhilarating feeling. He knows his soulmate’s name. He has a soulmate. It’s a strange thought. He has a soulmate! There is someone in this world who could complete him. Fulfill him. He has a soulmate, and he knows his name. It’s a magical thought. He can smile himself smiling, and he doesn’t stop his face from grimacing in such a way.

“So it’s a man,” says Tony.

There is a strain to his voice that Bucky simply ignores. He has a soulmate. Someone, somewhere in this world, is made for him.

“Ok, I’m done with your arm for now, big boy,” says Tony as he lets go of Bucky.

Tony stands up and puts his tools back to where they belong. Bucky stays on his bench, unable to move. There is another flashback. No, it’s the same as before. The same plane, crashing in the same golden field. The mallet. An address. A townhouse, small and brown and warm. Ransacked. He’s done this. He was looking for something. Files. A large wooden desk. Nothing. A blue room. An empty crib. A crib? There was no mention of a child in his mission. A bedroom. Large bed. For a couple. The Parkers. Still nothing. Where are the files? Not there. A picture on the nightstand. A tall man with brown hair. A petite woman with ginger hair. A baby in their arms. He opens the frame. Swift words written behind the picture. Richard. Mary. Peter. Police sirens. He has to leave. The photograph stays in his hand.

“Peter,” he breathes out, because suddenly he remembers.

His soulmate’s name is Peter Benjamin Parker. There is a sudden whirring sound around him. He opens his eyes, only to face Iron Man. Not Tony, Iron Man.

“Out.”  
“Tony?” he says, unsure about what is happening.

The alarm starts, probably as a result of Tony wearing his armor. JARVIS must have sensed something is going wrong.

“I said out. I want you out of my tower in ten minutes. And then you have an hour to get out of New York.”  
“What is happening, Tony?”  
“Out!” screams Tony. “I don’t want you anywhere me or my family!”  
“What? Why, Tony? I’ve been so much better! Surely you know I’d never hurt Steve or Peter!”

Steve arrives at that moment, wearing his Captain America armor. He is only missing his cowl.

“Is there a problem? What’s wrong?” he says hurriedly.

The frown on his face shows his worry, and his movements are frantic.

“I want him out of the tower,” repeats Tony. “Now.”  
“Tony! You can’t just kick him out!”  
“Watch me.”

Steve walks to Bucky.

“Don’t get close to him, Steve.”

Steve ignores his husband.

“What happened, Bucky?”  
“Steve!” growls Tony.  
“He’s my best friend, Tony!”  
“And I’m your husband!”

Steve and Tony stare at each other, both unwavering. Bucky can see Tony’s anger even through his armor. Steve’s he understands, but Tony’s? He doesn’t understand what the billionaire is so furious about.

“I’ve remembered the name of my soulmate,” he says.

Steve whips around to face him.

“It’s Peter Benjamin Parker. You could have asked me,” he says.

His tone is accusing. Bucky wants to defend himself and explain why he wants to remember stuff by himself, when Tony turns to Steve with fury in his eyes:

“You knew! You knew about Peter?”

Steve and Bucky both frown, not understanding what was happening.

“What about me?” asks a small voice.

The three men turn to the door, where was standing Peter. Bucky mentally scoffs. He was a trained assassin, had been for 70 years, and he still couldn’t hear a teenager coming in?

“I know I’m not supposed to come when there are alerts, but Uncle Clint and Aunty Nat are on a mission. And Bruce is at his convention, and Thor is in Asgard. So I thought I’d come and help?” provides the teen to explain his presence here.  
“Leave now, Peter! Go to your room and lock the door!” shouts Tony.

Bucky steps forward, which was, in insight, a bit of a mistake. The movement makes Tony jump back and he shots a light beam at Bucky. Bucky isn’t expecting it, his reflexes getting rusty from the lack of action -it has been a year with only light sparring, after all. The beam hits him, sending him flying a few meters back. His back hits the glass wall with a loud thump.

“Bucky!” screams Peter, running to the man.  
“Tony!” shouts Steve, walking toward his husband.

Each of his steps is hard and threatening, but Tony doesn’t care. His entire attention is directed to his son, who is now crouching near the ex-Winter Soldier. He wants to step forward, separate them, but Steve stands before him, intent on blocking his path.

“Peter! Get away from him!”  
“Tony, calm down! Tell us what the fuck is happening!” screams Steve.  
“I’ll calm down when he gets away from my son!”

Bucky stands up slowly. Peter helps him up, a worried look etched on his cute face.

“I’m fine, Peter,” he slowly says.

The teen nods but stays close to him.

“Don’t talk to him!” screams Tony.

Steve is standing in front of his husband, legs fixed to the floor. Bucky knows that stance. The punk won’t move out of the way.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

Peter’s face is twisted with confusion and fear. Bucky puts his hand - his real one - on the teen’s back, reassuring him. It seems to work, as the boy relaxes against his hand.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” screams Tony. “For fuck’s sake, if you don’t move, Steve, I won’t hesitate to shoot you!”  
“Tony, calm down!” shouts Steve in return. “Peter, come here. Bucky, sit on that bench.”  
“I want him to leave,” objects Tony, although he is not screaming anymore.  
“Explain first,” replies Steve. “You’re not banning Bucky for no reason.”

Bucky is glad that Steve is there. He doesn’t understand what is happening, but he is glad to know his best friend is supporting him.

When Bucky is sitting on his bench and Peter is sitting on the other - which Tony has moved a few feets away - with his dad by his side, Steve walks to the middle and asks:

“Tony, what’s the problem with Bucky’s soulmate?”  
“You have a soulmate?” Peter cuts in.

He looks strangely disappointed.

“He’s probably dead by now,” is his answer.

Peter perks up a little, then slouch down again. Weird. Tony seems to notice, too, because he barks at Bucky:

“No talking to my son!”  
“Dad!” scowls Peter.  
“Tony, I understand it’s a bit weird for you that your son and my soulmate share a first name, but you really need to calm down.”

Peter perks up again at that. Tony looks at Bucky, then at Peter. He sighs.

“JARVIS, please.”  
“Yes, sir.”

The armor removes itself and flies back to wherever it was before Tony called it out.

“Peter and I need to have a conversation. Alone.”  
“We’re staying,” protests Steve. “If you didn’t want to involve me, you shouldn’t have let me adopt him. He’s legally as much mine as he is yours. And Bucky is apparently involved in this.”  
“It’s really not a good idea,” replies Tony, frowning.

He looks tired, Bucky notices.

“Peter. We might not know for sure before your soul name appears, because people can share the same name and all, but chances are-”  
“Do you require an exact number, sir?” proposes JARVIS.  
“No. Thanks, JAR.”

Tony exhales loudly, then continues to speak.

“According to recent developments, it would make sense to believe that your soulmate could possibly be Bucky.”

The end of the sentence is mumbled but still understood by everyone. Bucky and Steve have their supersoldier hearing, and Peter is sitting just next to his father.  
The supersoldiers freeze, but a small smile creeps its way onto Peter’s face.

“Really?” he asks.  
“That’s not possible,” protests Bucky. “I don’t have Peter Stark written on my arm, but Peter Benjamin Parker.”  
“That’s because he wasn’t born as Peter Stark.”

Peter turns immediately to face his father, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Is it how his mother first named him?” asks Steve. “If you didn’t marry her, it’s normal he has her last name, no? But you said you didn’t know her.”

Tony exhales again, pinching his nose.

“That’s really not how I wanted to tell you, but… Peter, you’re not my son.”

The resulting scream of surprise is unanimous.

“That’s not possible, Tony, I saw his birth certificate!” finally says Steve, once everyone has stopped shouting.  
“It’s a fake,” explains Tony.

Steve frowns.

“Tell me what you did is legal, Tony.”  
“Of course it isn’t,” replies Tony. “False documents are rarely legal. But I didn’t kidnap him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The sarcasm is only half-hidden. It is quite visible that he is hurt by Steve’s accusations.

“But what do you mean, dad, that I’m not your son?”

Peter is on the verge of tears, breath shaky. Tony faces his son and puts both his hands on the boy’s shoulder.

“Peter. I love you. And I will always love you, no matter what blood says. But you are not genetically mine. I had absolutely no hand in your conception.”  
“But then, what?” asks Peter.

Bucky shuffles awkwardly on his bench. Tony had been right. He shouldn’t be there, watching this scene.

“Your parents were Richard and Mary Parker.”

Bucky freezes. A cold feeling of dread invades him.

_The plane crash. The empty crib. The picture. Richard. Mary. Peter._

“Richard was a scientist and a good friend of mine. He became a SHIELD agent when he married Mary Fitzgerald, who was also working for SHIELD. They were on a mission in Algeria to investigate a lead on HYDRA. They must have been discovered or something in their mission went wrong. They had to flee back to the States, but their plane was sabotaged. They were killed in the crash.”

Bucky feels sick. He killed them. He might not remember it, but he knows. He’s the one who killed them.

“You were just a few months old at the time. Your aunt and uncle were babysitting you during the mission. They would have kept you, but… HYDRA found your parents’ house and ransacked everything. They must have seen the crib and the pictures. We didn’t know if you would be safe enough with your family. We thought HYDRA would want to find you, since… Richard had worked on recreating Steve’s serum, with SHIELD. Rumours were he had ingested a bit a serum made with Steve’s blood.”

Bucky saw Steve become stiff upon hearing this, his arms crossed.

“There was no result that we know of, but if those rumours reached HYDRA we knew they would come for you. I mean, the experiments were made before… your… you know, your conception. Anyway. You could have been raised by your aunt and uncle, but a baby with the supersoldier serum in the care of two civilians was too much of a risk. Time has revealed their was no effect on you, but even with the uncertainty, there was no way HYDRA wouldn’t have made a move. For your safety, and your aunt and uncle’s, that wasn’t a viable option. SHIELD thought it would be better if you lived under a new name, with me. It was easy to pretend you were my son. SHIELD replaced all your official documents, stating me as your birth father. I was known as a playboy; it wasn’t hard to make the media believe I had gotten one of my one-night stands pregnant.”

Peter stayed silent, visibly gobsmacked by the truth. It wasn’t how Tony had wanted to tell him. It was probably one of the worst way to go.

“Your aunt and uncle are still alive, if you’d want to meet them?” he proposed.

Peter nodded absent-mindedly, probably still not realizing what was happening.

“But why you, though?” finally asks Peter. “I mean, I love you, but I know it wasn’t exactly what you had planned for your life.”  
“I was drunk when I accepted,” admitted Tony, which got a small laugh from Peter and a disapproving noise from Steve. “What, I’m telling the truth!”

He ignored the “belatedly” mumbled by Steve.

“I know it wasn’t what I wanted, but I don’t regret that choice. I love you as if you were my son. You’re a wonderful kid, Peter.”

Both son and father are teary-eyed by then. Peter stands up from his bench and they hug each other. Steve joins in, wrapping them both in his arms. It would be heart whelming if Bucky’s mind wasn’t spiraling away.

_The room was blue. The crib was empty. The photograph was on the nightstand. Richard. Mary. Peter. The files weren’t there. But there was a room. The room was blue. The crib was empty. The photograph was on the nightstand. Richard. Mary. Peter. The files weren’t there. They weren’t in the mallet. The plane was burning. The fields were golden. The sky was fiery, all orange and pink. But the room was blue, and the crib was empty._

“Hydra didn’t know about Peter.”

The sentence escapes his lips, freezing the three other men.

“How would you know?” asks Tony, cautious.

Suddenly it’s like Bucky cannot even see in front of him. All he sees are the plane and the blue room and the empty crib.

“I was the only one in the house. The room was blue. The crib was empty. There were toys on the floor. There were no papers in the desk. The files weren’t there. There was a frame on the bedstand, in the big bedroom. There was a photograph. Richard. Mary. Peter. Richard. Mary. Peter. But the crib was empty. There were no files. I couldn’t find the files. I found the mallet, but not the files. The mallet was in the plane. It was burning. The fields were golden. The sun was setting. The flames were hot. But my arm doesn’t melt. I found the mallet. But I couldn’t find the files. The desk and the crib were empty.”

Suddenly he sees. He looks at Steve. He looks shocked, his eyes wide open. His eyes are the same blue as the walls of the room with the empty crib.

“The room was blue,” he adds, his voice breaking down.

Peter is his soulmate and he killed his parents.

**Author's Note:**

> I changed quite a lot about Richard and Mary's jobs and story. I based my story on the comics, but in those, it is the Red Skull who was responsible for their death. I thought it wasn't dramatic enough :)  
> Also, I only added the super serum bit because HYDRA being all "we killed undercover agents but they have a baby, we should def send agents to hunt down the baby and kill it" didn't seem plausible enough.


End file.
